Conferencias, mesas redondas, etc

progress are used as poverty indicators.Routledge Dictionary of Economics

Measurement of Poverty

 Most of the countries of the world define poverty in a uni-dimensional way, using

income or consumption level. In developing countries, consumption is more appropriate than income as welfare indicator.

 Consumption is measured better than income in developing countries because of

difficulties in defining and measuring income for self-employed.

 In Pakistan household consumption is used as a welfare indicator.

 Poverty lines are the thresholds which separate the poor from non- poor.

 The level of INCOME just sufficient to provide minimum subsistence for an individual or

family. The social security legislation of a country usually defines it for the purposes of paying out benefits. There is always much controversy over the appropriate minimum. Even SMITH and RICARDO were reluctant to define it in terms of physical survival alone.

Routledge Dictionary of Economics

 Ministry of Planning and Development measures poverty on consumption based

approach using data from Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES)

 According to the World Bank’s Poverty Head Count Analysis 2014, if income per adult

in Pakistan is taken as $ 1.25 per day, then 21.04 percent of the population falls below poverty line. But if the poverty line is raised to $ 2 per day in line with international standards for middle income countries, then 60.19 percent of the population fall below poverty line. Better than Bangladesh, India but SL, China in good position than Pakistan.

Economic Survey of Pakistan 2013-14

Reasons

 Economic Underdevelopment  Misplaced priorities of State  Post Independence state's nature

 Lack of access to basic infrastructure: 8%  Lack of Uniform education system

 Flow of Capital?

Implications

 Political:

a. Underrepresentation of poor in govt system

 Economic:

a. Theory of Base and Super structure (see Annexure) b. Phenomenon of Money loss aversion

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 Social:

a. social behaviors

b. proceeds all types of socially unaccepted behaviors

 Human:

a. poor more venerable to die of hunger/famine b. social evils  Religious: a. Extremism b. Sectarianism  National: a. Politicization of Ethnicity b. Intra-regional disparities Government Measures

 Expansion of Social Safety Netsiii  Benazir Income support programiii

 Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF)iii

a. Waseela-e-Haqtargeted at 18,000 ultra-poor women/households, offers a soft loan of Rs. 300,000/- to female beneficiaries after graduating from 10 days enterprise development training.

b. Waseela-e-Haq Sindh:targeted on 30,000 youth of Sindh, A project of Rs. 12.0 billion was launched to give interest free loans to every single deserving youth. The loan is given to applicants after verifications that they have no source of income

c. Waseela-e-Haq (Micro-finance): Aiming to break the vicious cycle of poverty, provides long-term interest free financial assistance of Rs. 300,000 to the randomly selected beneficiaries to start their own business. So far, 41 draws have been held and an amount of Rs. 2.6 billion has been disbursed to 16,119 beneficiaries, while 9193 beneficiaries have started their own businesses.

d. Waseela-e-Rozgar (Vocational & Technical Training):empowering the female beneficiary to become economically independent through acquiring demand-driven vocational skill and technical education. Waseela-e- Rozgar provides free of cost vocational training for

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every beneficiary woman between the age of 18 and 45. So far, around 57,000 individuals have been trained under this initiative.

e. Waseela-e-Sehet (Life & Health Insurance): The Life Insurance scheme was launched to provide insurance coverage of Rs. 100,000 to the life of bread-earners of every beneficiary family. Over 4.1 million beneficiary families till now. To facilitate the beneficiaries, Benazir Health Cards have been issued to the more than 58,000 enrolled families.

f. Waseela-e-Taleem: encourages beneficiary families, with children in the age group of 5 to 12 years, to send their out of school children to schools for Primary Education. So far, a total of 33,067 children have been confirmed

f. Zakat: is “that portion of a person’s wealth, designate for the poor by ALLAH Almighty”. It’s

a compulsory levy imposed on wealthy and plays an important role in poverty alleviation. Zakat system in Pakistan was introduced through an Ordinance called Zakat and Ushr Ordinance, 1980. Zakat aims to take surplus money or wealth from the comparatively well-to-do members of the society and utilize to assist the needy, indigent, poor, orphans, widows, handicapped and disabled. These poor segments of society are provided Zakat funds either directly through respective local Zakat Committees or indirectly through institutions i.e. educational, vocational, social institutions and hospitals, etc. Total amount of Rs. 4,053.569 million was placed in bulk on the disposal of provinces and other administrative areas for further distribution among the deserving families/persons during the year 2013-14

g. Pakistan Bait-ul-Mall (PBM)  is an autonomous body set up under 1991 Act of the Government of Pakistan. The purpose of establishment of this institution is eradication of poverty through indiscriminate provision of assistance of various kinds to most deprived individuals in the society. PBM provides financial assistance for fighting hunger, getting medical treatment, getting education and setting up self employment activities. Major Projects/Achievements of PBM are Individual Financial Assistance, Establishment of Pakistan Sweet Homes (Orphans) and Endowment Fund (Institutional Rehabilitation for NGOs)

h. Prime Minister’s Interest Free Loan Scheme  initiated to support micro enterprise activities for the poor youth, with an allocation of Rs. 3.5 billion, which will be disbursed through Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. This scheme is meant to provide interest free loans up to Rs. 50,000 to the vulnerable and poverty ridden urban and rural youth for setting up their own small scale business. The amount returned by the borrowers will be accumulated in permanent fund available to community for further lending. This scheme will benefit one million beneficiaries in developing the livelihood skills and opportunities.

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